AzTallRider

Easy ride to work, and the legs feel good. Opener this afternoon and 20' test tomorrow...

Cleave

The only time I ever run is during the off season and I haven't done any significant running in several years now. I never run during the season, even if I'm on vacation and there's no other option for a cardio workout. It's just too hard on my legs for mid-season.

I've be following the last 4 weeks of Chris Carmichael's schedule in the Time-Crunched Cyclist. It's really pretty much what I would be doing anyway, except that I would have done more criterium racing. However, the lack of weekend criterium racing fits with my desire to minimize risks leading up to nationals. I'll be doing "attack intervals" at tonight's world championships.

shovelhd

Good luck with your test AZT. May you have big numbers.

Racer Ex 

Last positive TSB I've had was on July 12th. There's a fair bit of HTFU having to be pulled out to overcome the fatigue. Today I did 45m of climbing alternates (seated drops, hoods, tops, out of saddle drops and hoods). Had hoped to do some LMsD (long medium speed distance) on the MTB but it took them a bit to get the brakes working so I did the road thing.

Had moments where I felt dominant, and others where I was driving through the mud. Last two days have been 95-104 degrees and 10-15 MPH headwinds.

Scale said 152 after some hydration when I got home.

Tomorrow morning I throw a few gels and bars in the backpack, have couple of cups of coffee, and ride a 9k' ridge route through the pines for 3-4 hours. I think that will finish the legs off. Thursday is rest/recovery, Friday a drive down over the hill and an opener, then Saturday I'm going to crush souls.

Course is the first USAC road race I did. 45+ open. I was a Cat 5. I got 2nd and would have won it had I not been shocked to even be in the mix. It was the last time I thought "wow, I might get second! How cool is that?"

Hermes

We made it to LA canceled flight and all. We were about 3 hours behind schedule but after checking into the hotel, we were off to the track. Traffic was okay on the 405 and then when we got to Carson, the 405 came to a stop. All 5 lanes were not moving. Sigalert.com indicated that there was a 5 car pileup with injuries. It took an additional 45 minutes to go about 2 miles. We did make it to the 7PM session and got a workout in. It was more of a leg opener than a workout but we will take it considering the pilgrimage from NorCal.

chasm54

Great story, Ex. If I may ask, how long was that after you started training seriously?

Racer Ex 

It was near the end of my first year working with a coach and actually having a structured training program. I won some local races and the "C" series championship in Poloookaville and decided to go over the hill and race against the big boys.

Not knowing what I was doing, I thought the 45+ open would be easier than the 35+ 4/5. I went over the last big climb in around 7th but caught and passed everyone on the descent. When we hit the bottom the field was strung out and I tried to get a couple of guys to work with me but they wouldn't, so I took off solo. 6 miles later two guys bridged up and at the 1 kilo from the finish a guy attacked. I didn't want to tow the other guy and he wouldn't work so I let the guy go. Started sprinting at 500m and darn if I didn't drop the other guy like a rock and finish a wheel behind the winner.

Turned out neither of the guys could sprint.

I had been getting a few bucks and some prizes for winning the local races so I figured I'd get a nice payout for 2nd in a "big" sanctioned race.

I got a T shirt that didn't fit.

Still have it.

chasm54

Does it fit yet?

Seriously, very interesting.

AzTallRider

Beat my last/best test by a whopping 4w. That's within the PM margin of error, but it says that the last few months of mostly higher intensity, and lots of rest days, hasn't hurt my FTP. I guess it doesn't need to be "legitimate FTP training" to get you pregn... I mean to keep you fit. Who knew?

shovelhd

It'll come, AZT.

I felt great tonight on the bike. Nose breathing at June's FTP. At least my legs will be ready for Thater.

AzTallRider

I feel good about the test - surprised that I've maintained my 20' power, while really boosting the higher intensity ranges.

Racer Ex 

I'm not really surprised. I would have accepted a small decrease based on what we were doing but you've been getting decent volume days to compliment the speed/strength work. What we have here is untapped genetic potential we're finding while building the athlete. That's good stuff.

Racer Ex 

I'm pretty destroyed today. A hard 2 hours at 9000' on the MTB. 4th day of hard efforts. Ice bath. Clean food. A few sangrias. Roll and stretch then go back to reading about Crazy Horse.

Yesterday I bought a bunch of home improvement stuff and hung some lights in the garage. Today I woke up feeling really tired, slept an "extra" hour, took the dogs for a walk, built an 8' gate for the yard then did my ride.

Day off tomorrow. Keeping off the legs, may do a recovery spin. Got a few errands to run but mostly going to rest.

Interesting murmurs about who might be thinking what for the various tandem pairings at Nats. Some folks are hedging bets. We're all in.

Racer Ex 

Why they would order a bunch of xl t-shirts for a climbing race, I don't get.

Hermes

45 minute easy flat ride at high cadence on road bikes. I followed that up with a trip to the gym for core, back, stretching and etc. We belong to Equinox and they purchased a club from Sports Club LA in Irvine. Many years ago, I belonged to this club when it was Sports Club LA. It is a fabulous facility with gym, pool, aerobic, racquetball, basketball, spa, restaurant and etc. It was fun returning after many years. The thing I remember most from the club is that Magic Johnson was a member and would play basketball with the members. We could see the basketball court from the aerobic floor. Magic would dribble down the floor and throw a no look pass to a club member. That has to be a moment to remember.

shovelhd

Recovery day today, so I commuted. 60 degrees, no wind, sunny, a little ground fog, governor set to 200w. Beautiful. So refreshing.

ericm979

Easy week this week. I was tired after two hard weeks and I have a race coming up. I loafed on today's group ride.
Tomorrow I drive to Lone Pine for the Mt Whitney stage race. When I get there I'll pre-ride part of saturday's course. If I have time I'll drive the whole thing, but it's a 7 hour drive to get there so I may be too tired of driving.

I've been trying to decide if I should stay in cat 4 or switch to M45 but the organizer emailed today that he's going to start them together both days. So it makes less of a difference now.

Cleave

ericm979, I have a couple of teammates going to Mt. Whitney too. Good luck out there and have fun. BTW, one of my teammates will be in the Cat 4 race.

Allegheny Jet

Just about out the door to the Black Forest Region in PA for a long weekend of riding with friends and my coach. Focus is long rides on gravel hills and fire roads. The past four weeks I have done road TT's, Crits, a road races, MTB race, intervals on a track, and now gravel roads on the cross bike. Anything that I'm missing?

Life is good...

AzTallRider

Not unless you want to strap on a scuba tank.

Hermes

I did a 4PM racer session with MEA and VanceMac and we worked on team pursuit. We did 6 efforts plus the warmup. We had a great time and VanceMac was excellent at team pursuit. I saw Cleave briefly as we passed each other walking up and down the ramp but i did take some video of him that I will post later.

Hermes

Here is Cleave warming up for the 7PM Roger's session. You can see Roger leading a slower group around the pole lane. Cleave is at the back.

shovelhd

What a gorgeous facility.

Cleave

I have been very fortunate in my cycling life to have the people and environment that allow me to continue in the sport in a way that bring me great joy.

Imagine my surprise to see a video of me on the interwebs. Glad I was riding in a straight line.

This week's intervals were:

Z1 1 min, Z3 2 min, Z2 1 min, Z3 2 min, Z4 30 sec - X4 reps per set - 2 sets

Once again my legs are trashed today.

Hermes

It is always a good idea to be on ones best behavior. You looked great!